When you have passed over the Jordan: as in verses 2 and 3.

This day: as in verse 1.

Mount Ebal: in the hill country of Israel, some forty-eight kilometers (thirty miles) north of Jerusalem, near the city of Shechem. This verse appears to say that the people are to plaster the stones after setting them up on Mount Ebal. Since it would take several days for them to get to Mount Ebal, this verse does not agree with verse 1, in which the Israelites are told to set up the stones the day they cross the Jordan. Two different traditions have been brought together in this narrative.

Instead of Ebal Hebrew Old Testament Text Project prefers “Gerizim,” citing as justification the factor which it calls “interpretive modifications.” The Samaritan text has “Mount Gerizim,” which was the holy mountain of the Samaritans after the split between Samaritans and Jews in the fourth century B.C. Hebrew Old Testament Text Project gives its decision only a {D} rating, and the argument can go either way: it could be that the Samaritan text made the change, or the Masoretic text (the Hebrew text that has come down to us) may have made the change in the interests of the Jews. While several English translations have “Gerizim” in their footnotes, none of the most commonly used versions have it in the text. It is recommended that translators follow the Hebrew (Masoretic) Text.

The repetition in verses 2-4 will be unnatural in a number of languages. In such cases it will be better to combine these verses in a way similar to the following:

• Soon you will cross the Jordan River and enter the land that the LORD your God has promised to give you. He is the God your ancestors worshiped. It is a land full of cattle and crops [or, produce]. As soon as you enter the land, go to Mount Ebal. Set up some large stones there and cover them with lime [or plaster]. Then write on them all these laws and teachings.

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Deuteronomy. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .